Booger McFarland: Jackie Robinson Was More Than a Baseball Player

American baseball player Jackie Robinson (1919 - 1972) of the Brooklyn Dodgers is tagged out by Cubs catcher Rube Walker (1926 - 1992) after attempting to slide in and steal home base, Chicago, Illinois, May 17, 1948. Gil Hodges (1924 - 1972) is at bat. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images)B. Bennett/Getty Images

Note: Some language may be offensive

It’s hard for me to think about a culture that just because of the color of your skin you were treated differently. By differently I mean physically and mentally abused. You were denied to eat at certain places and told you couldn’t ride in certain spots, all because of the color of your skin.

Then October 23, 1945, when Jackie Robinson signed his contract with the Dodgers, things changed. Especially in April of 1947 when he came up from the minors. No longer was it white only baseball. No longer did all the Negro League players feel beneath the white players. For that moment things changed. They changed not for what Jackie Robinson did but for what he didn’t do.

How hard would it be for you to take ‘it’, being called a nigger, being called inferior, being treated in a way that no human could ever deserve to be treated. Having the mere thought that no matter what you said, you couldn’t win.

It was done by Jackie Robinson. He took it all and because of that he changed American history. Because of that, I am able to write this article today. Because of him being an American hero we can get closer to the point that we are all equal.

So as the movie 42 opens let’s remember that Jackie Robinson was more than a baseball player. He was someone who did ‘it’ by not doing anything at all. He was by all accounts the man who changed American history so that you and I can be where we are today, especially me!